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New Fiction
Take a look at some of the latest additions to our New and Featured Fiction collections! We check in new books nearly every day -- check out the First Floor's LibraryThing account where we log all of our newest arrivals!
New Fiction - Week of November 1, 2009
Auster, Paul
Invisible
With uncompromising insight, Auster reinvents the coming-of-age story and takes readers into the shadowy borderland between truth and memory, between authorship and identity, to produce a work of unforgettable power.
Invisible
With uncompromising insight, Auster reinvents the coming-of-age story and takes readers into the shadowy borderland between truth and memory, between authorship and identity, to produce a work of unforgettable power.
Lethem, Jonathan
Chronic City
The acclaimed author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude returns with this gorgeous, searing portrayal of Manhattanites wrapped in their own delusions, desires, and lies.
Chronic City
The acclaimed author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude returns with this gorgeous, searing portrayal of Manhattanites wrapped in their own delusions, desires, and lies.
Roth, Philip
The Humbling
Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Roth's startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his 60s, Axler has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance.
The Humbling
Everything is over for Simon Axler, the protagonist of Roth's startling new book. One of the leading American stage actors of his generation, now in his 60s, Axler has lost his magic, his talent, and his assurance.
Return to the topNew Science Fiction and Fantasy - Week of November 1, 2009
Van Gelder, Gordon
The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology
For the last sixty years, Fantasy Science Fiction has showcased innovative authors and groundbreaking fiction. Now this extraordinary anniversary anthology celebrates twenty-three of the most famous stories that first appeared in FSF.
The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology
For the last sixty years, Fantasy Science Fiction has showcased innovative authors and groundbreaking fiction. Now this extraordinary anniversary anthology celebrates twenty-three of the most famous stories that first appeared in FSF.
New Mysteries - Week of November 1, 2009
Billingham, Mark
Death Message
From one of Britain's most compelling and talented crime writers comes an unforgettable new entry in the Tom Thorne detective series. This chilling thriller begins with a body and a phone line--both dead.
Death Message
From one of Britain's most compelling and talented crime writers comes an unforgettable new entry in the Tom Thorne detective series. This chilling thriller begins with a body and a phone line--both dead.
Harris, Charlaine
Grave Secret
From the bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels comes this latest work in the Harper Connelly mystery series. Every series Harris creates is utterly fantastic.--"Midwest Book Review."
Grave Secret
From the bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels comes this latest work in the Harper Connelly mystery series. Every series Harris creates is utterly fantastic.--"Midwest Book Review."
New Horror - Week of November 1, 2009
Barker, Clive
The Hellbound Heart
Frank Cotton's insatiable appetite for the dark pleasures of pain led him to the puzzle of Lemarchand's box, and from there, to a death only a sick-minded soul could invent. But his brother's love-crazed wife, Julia, has discovered a way to bring Frank back-though the price will be bloody and terrible . . . and there will certainly be hell to pay.
The Hellbound Heart
Frank Cotton's insatiable appetite for the dark pleasures of pain led him to the puzzle of Lemarchand's box, and from there, to a death only a sick-minded soul could invent. But his brother's love-crazed wife, Julia, has discovered a way to bring Frank back-though the price will be bloody and terrible . . . and there will certainly be hell to pay.
New World Fiction - Week of November 1, 2009
Grass, Gunter
The Tin Drum
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of this classic novel, an acclaimed translator and scholar has drawn from many sources for this new translation, more faithful to Grass's style and rhythm.
The Tin Drum
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of this classic novel, an acclaimed translator and scholar has drawn from many sources for this new translation, more faithful to Grass's style and rhythm.
Mazetti, Katarina
Benny and Shrimp
An international sensation, this addictively readable tale asks the question: Why is it so impossible to get a relationship between two middle-aged misfits to work? The answer lies in the story of Shrimp, a young widowed librarian with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that her jam jars are in alphabetical order; Benny, a gentle, overworked milk farmer who fears becoming the village's Old Bachelor; and an unlikely love that should not be as complicated as it seems. Reminiscent of the works of Carol Shields, this quirky, humorous, beautifully told novel breathes new life into the age-old conundrum that is love.
Benny and Shrimp
An international sensation, this addictively readable tale asks the question: Why is it so impossible to get a relationship between two middle-aged misfits to work? The answer lies in the story of Shrimp, a young widowed librarian with a sharp intellect and a home so tidy that her jam jars are in alphabetical order; Benny, a gentle, overworked milk farmer who fears becoming the village's Old Bachelor; and an unlikely love that should not be as complicated as it seems. Reminiscent of the works of Carol Shields, this quirky, humorous, beautifully told novel breathes new life into the age-old conundrum that is love.
New GLBT Fiction - Week of November 1, 2009
al-Harez, Siba
The Others
A best-selling book when it appeared in Arabic, The Others is a literary tour de force, offering a window into one of the most repressive societies in the world. Seba al-Herz tells the story of a nameless teenager at a girls’ school in the heavily Shi’ite Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Like her classmates, she has no contact with men outside her family. When the glamorous Dai tries to seduce her, her feelings of guilt are overcome by an overwhelming desire for sexual and emotional intimacy. Dai introduces her to a secret world of lesbian parties, online flirtations, and hotel liaisons—a world in which the thrill of infatuation and the shame of obsession are deeply intertwined. Al-Herz's erotic, dreamlike story of looming personal crisis is a remarkable portrait of hidden lives. Seba al-Herz is the pseudonym of a twenty-six-year-old Saudi woman from al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia. This is her first novel.
The Others
A best-selling book when it appeared in Arabic, The Others is a literary tour de force, offering a window into one of the most repressive societies in the world. Seba al-Herz tells the story of a nameless teenager at a girls’ school in the heavily Shi’ite Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Like her classmates, she has no contact with men outside her family. When the glamorous Dai tries to seduce her, her feelings of guilt are overcome by an overwhelming desire for sexual and emotional intimacy. Dai introduces her to a secret world of lesbian parties, online flirtations, and hotel liaisons—a world in which the thrill of infatuation and the shame of obsession are deeply intertwined. Al-Herz's erotic, dreamlike story of looming personal crisis is a remarkable portrait of hidden lives. Seba al-Herz is the pseudonym of a twenty-six-year-old Saudi woman from al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia. This is her first novel.
New African-American Fiction - Week of November 1, 2009
Price-Thompson, Tracy
1-900-A-N-Y-T-I-M-E
Price-Thompson has been awarded numerous honors for her steamy, action-packed, and culturally relevant writing. Her latest sexy, thrilling novel features a phone-sex worker whose obsessive clients are determined to get her all to themselves.
1-900-A-N-Y-T-I-M-E
Price-Thompson has been awarded numerous honors for her steamy, action-packed, and culturally relevant writing. Her latest sexy, thrilling novel features a phone-sex worker whose obsessive clients are determined to get her all to themselves.
New Historical Fiction - Week of November 1, 2009
Mantel, Hilary
Wolf Hall
In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political power. England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king's freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.
Wolf Hall
In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political power. England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king's freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph? In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.
New Short Stories - Week of November 1, 2009
Ostlund, Lori
The Bigness of the World
In Lori Ostlund’s debut collection people seeking escape from situations at home venture out into a world that they find is just as complicated and troubled as the one they left behind. In prose highlighted by both satire and poignant observation, Ostlund offers characters that represent a different sort of everyman—men and women who poke fun at ideological rigidity while holding fast to good grammar and manners, people seeking connections in a world that seems increasingly foreign. In “Upon Completion of Baldness” a young woman shaves her head for a part in a movie in Hong Kong that will help her escape life with her lover in Albuquerque. The precocious narrator of “All Boy” finds comfort when he is locked in a closet by a babysitter. In “Dr. Deneau’s Punishment” a math teacher leaving New York for Minnesota as a means of punishing himself engages in an unsettling method of discipline. A lesbian couple whose relationship is disintegrating flees to the Moroccan desert in “The Children Beneath the Seat.” And in “Idyllic Little Bali” a group of Americans gathers around a pool in Java to discuss their brushes with fame and ends up witnessing a man’s fatal flight from his wife. In the eleven stories in The Bigness of the World we see that wherever you are in the world, where you came from is never far away.
The Bigness of the World
In Lori Ostlund’s debut collection people seeking escape from situations at home venture out into a world that they find is just as complicated and troubled as the one they left behind. In prose highlighted by both satire and poignant observation, Ostlund offers characters that represent a different sort of everyman—men and women who poke fun at ideological rigidity while holding fast to good grammar and manners, people seeking connections in a world that seems increasingly foreign. In “Upon Completion of Baldness” a young woman shaves her head for a part in a movie in Hong Kong that will help her escape life with her lover in Albuquerque. The precocious narrator of “All Boy” finds comfort when he is locked in a closet by a babysitter. In “Dr. Deneau’s Punishment” a math teacher leaving New York for Minnesota as a means of punishing himself engages in an unsettling method of discipline. A lesbian couple whose relationship is disintegrating flees to the Moroccan desert in “The Children Beneath the Seat.” And in “Idyllic Little Bali” a group of Americans gathers around a pool in Java to discuss their brushes with fame and ends up witnessing a man’s fatal flight from his wife. In the eleven stories in The Bigness of the World we see that wherever you are in the world, where you came from is never far away.
Van den Berg, Laura
What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us
Containing work reprinted in Best Non-Required Reading 2008, Best New American Voices 2010, and The Pushcart Prizes 2010, the stories in Laura van den Berg's rich and inventive debut illuminate the intersection of the mythic and the mundane. A failed actress takes a job as a Bigfoot impersonator. A botanist seeking a rare flower crosses path with a group of men hunting the Loch Ness Monster. A disillusioned missionary in Africa grapples with grief and a growing obsession with a creature rumored to live in the forest of the Congo. And in the title story, a young woman traveling with her scientist mother in Madagascar confronts her burgeoning sexuality and her dream of becoming a long-distance swimmer. Rendered with precision and longing, the women who narrate these starkly beautiful stories are consumed with searching -- for absolution, for solace, for the flash of extraordinary in the ordinary that will forever alter their lives.
What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us
Containing work reprinted in Best Non-Required Reading 2008, Best New American Voices 2010, and The Pushcart Prizes 2010, the stories in Laura van den Berg's rich and inventive debut illuminate the intersection of the mythic and the mundane. A failed actress takes a job as a Bigfoot impersonator. A botanist seeking a rare flower crosses path with a group of men hunting the Loch Ness Monster. A disillusioned missionary in Africa grapples with grief and a growing obsession with a creature rumored to live in the forest of the Congo. And in the title story, a young woman traveling with her scientist mother in Madagascar confronts her burgeoning sexuality and her dream of becoming a long-distance swimmer. Rendered with precision and longing, the women who narrate these starkly beautiful stories are consumed with searching -- for absolution, for solace, for the flash of extraordinary in the ordinary that will forever alter their lives.
